Ryman Premier
East Thurrock United 2 v 2 Kingstonians
VISITING Kingstonian snatched a draw from the jaws of victory by gift-wrapping a lack-lustre Rocks two late goals at Rookery Hill on Saturday.
The Ks looked in the comfort zone going into the last 16 minutes of this Ryman Premier clash but an extraordinary own goal from Max Hustwick gave Rocks some hope and in the last minute keeper Rob Tolfrey left his line close down Harry Honesty wide on the by-line and clipped his ankles to concede a needless penalty that Lewis Smith gratefully smashed home.
That was an unexpected reward for East Thurrock were a mere shade of the side that played so well to win at Hendon on Monday. They created little as an attacking force but came close to opening the scoring midway on 32 minutes when Ryan Scott’s scuffed shot was cleared off the line and Mitchell Gilbey crashed the rebound against the upright.
Controversy followed in the 42 minute when Kingstonian got the ball in the net but after initially giving the goal ref Paul Howard consulted assistant ref Kennedy Kikulwe and ruled it out for an offside in the building-up, albeit one that the assistant hadn’t flagged!
However, it took jyst a minute for the visitors to put the disappointment behind them when a gap opened up for Dan Bennett whose quick feet saw him bear down on keeper Lukas Lidakevicius and he clipped the ball past him from close range.
Rocks were better after the break and thought they had equalised when Tolfrey fumbled a cross but despite claims to the contrary Mr Kikulwe’s assessment that it had stayed out was correct.
On 69 minutes Ks increased their lead when Pelayo Pico Gomez beat Scott and rifled the ball home.
That should have been game over but with 16 minutes to go Rock were given a lifeline when, under no pressure, Hustwick passed the ball back to Tolfrey without looking, only to see the keeper had drifted wide to take the ball and both could only watch as it rolled into an empty net.
And in the last minute Rocks got the draw when Tolfry was suckered into his unnecessary challenge and Smith did the rest.
